


F 142 
.B7 US 
Copy 1 



\h 





i"-^ 



:'^' 



U 
/ 



(/ 



■7 



Ul/fuyi^-- /u- 



/ 



^ort|^ni iouuhrj %m. 



THE 



CmCUMSTA^TES LE.iDING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT, 



OF THE 



NORTHEM BOUNDARY LINE 



BETWEES 



NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

MAY 19, 1859, 



.z'" 



IV^ BY WM. A. WHITEHEAD. 




^ 



r 



V^'2- 



(^1 



V^li? 



|[ort|uu iottttbarn fine» 



When the Duke of York was induced, " in consideration of a competent 
Sum of good and lawful money," to grant to Lords Berkley and Carteret a 
part of the tract of American soil received from his royal brother, Charles 
II., the act was regarded with great apprehension and disfavor by his Gov- 
ernor, Richard Nicolls. He did not hesitate to say that the Duke thereby- 
despoiled himself of the best portion of his possessions; to use his own 
language, that New Jersey " comprehended all the improvable part o£ 
Your R'. H'. his Pattent, and capable to receive twenty limes more people 
than Long Island and all the remaining Tracts in Your R'. H\ his patent, 
in respect not oncly to the quantity of the Land, but to the Sea Coast 
and Delaware River, the fertility of the soyle, the neighborhood to Hud- 
son's River, and lastly the faire hopes of rich mines, to the utter discour- 
agement of any that shall desire to live under Your R'. H'. his protec- 
tion."* 

Several of Nicolls' successors, equally watchful of the Duke's interests, 
and impressed with the value of the grant, subsequently counselled the re- 
annexation of the territory thus lost. And although the republican form 
of government, since established where royalty and its attendant aggres- 
sions were then dominant, has been thought to be at variance with such 
illiberal and covetous views, and therefore . a guarantee against all danger 
from similar counsels now, yet on more than one occasion New Jersey has 
had cause to complain tRat a change of government has not wrought a cor- 
responding change in the motives and actions of the authorities and people 
of New York. Judging from their course at different times, and under 
varied circumstances, it would seem that the estimate placed upon New 
Jersey by Governor Nicolls, is still deemed sufficiently correct to lead to 
unmistakable manifestations of a desire to regain possession of portions, at 
least, of what he so unwillingly relinquished. 

The bounds of New Jersey, as specified in the grant of the Duke of 
York to Lords Berkley and Carteret, were as follows : " All that tract of 
land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of 
Long Island and Manhitas Island, and bounded on the east, part by the 

* X. Y. Col. Doc'ts. Yol. III., p. 105. 



4 KORTHERN BOUNDAET. 

main sea and part by Hudson's River, and hath upon the west Delaware 
Bay or River, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape 
May at the mouth of Delaware Bay ; and to the northward as far as the 
northermost branch of the said Bay or River of Delaioare, which is in 
forty-one degrees and forty mimites of latitude, and crosseth over thence 
in a straight line to Hudson's River in forty-one degrees of latitude, which 
said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New 
Ceaserea or New Jersey." 

No terms could have been used more clearly defining the tract to be con- 
veyed. On the east, a river and the ocean — on the west and south, a river 
and a bay — on the north, a straight line, extending from a point in 41 deg. 
40 min. North Latitude, on one river, to a point in 41 deg. North Latitude 
on the other. Yet, on inspection of the geographical lines which at the 
present day define the limits of New Jersey, they are found to correspond 
no longer with the prescribed bounds on the east, nor on the north ; so 
that instead of their including all the land " lying and being to the west- 
ward of Long Island and Manhitas Island," an island containing more than 
50,000 acres, lying west of such line, has passed into the possession of 
others ; and that on the north, they come short of the extreme point des- 
ignated in the grant by nearly twenty miles. 

To narrate the circumstances which led to this last mentioned curtail- 
ment of the dimensions of the State — presenting in succinct terms the man- 
ner in which it was effected, and the questions involved — is the simple in- 
tention of this paper. The subject admits of little embellishment either of 
language or of rhetoric, and the Society must overlook the inherent dryness 
of the geographical and business details which the end in view requires to 
be stated. 

The Delaware River takes its rise among the western slopes of the moun- 
tains, lying in the eastern part of Delaware County, in the State of New 
York, and runs southwestwardly, under the name of the Mohawk branch, 
until it arrives within a few miles of the 42d parallel of north latitude. 
There it receives, what is known acccording to some maps as the Oquago 
branch, and other small tributaries from the north^ and turning, almost at 
a right angle, wends its way toward the southeast, receiving increased vol- 
ume at about 41 deg. 55 min. N. L. from the waters of the Popaxtun 
branch, whose springs lie partly among the gorges of the Catskills, and 
partly in the vicinity of those originating the Mohawk. Proceeding on- 
ward, in the latitude of about 41 deg. 20 min., it receives the Mackhacki- 
mack branch from the north, and again changes its course to the south- 
west. These are the only tributaries, north of the 41st parallel, which 
merit the distinctive title of branches. The first two may be said to form 
the river, and their junction is known as "the upper, or Shehawkin, forks 
of Delaware," To one or the other of these certainly belongs the title of 
the northernmost branch of the river, and if the Mohawk branch, from its 



NORTHEIIN BOUNDARY. 5 

extension farthest to the north, should be considered the main stream, 
the distinctive title devolves upon the Popaxtun branch. But so imper- 
fect was the knowledge possessed in 1664, respecting the course of rivers 
and the general geography of the country, it is not surprising that it should 
have been found difBcult to reconcile the descriptions, given in the early 
grants with the results of actual surveys, or that confusion should have 
arisen from conflicting claims. There was scarcely a charter that did not 
interfere in some measure with privileges already secured, or contempora- 
neously granted under the authority of different sovereigns or different 
incorporated companies ; and the maps which have come down to us, show 
conclusively that they were calculated to mislead, rather than to furnish in- 
formation of service in preventing or correcting such errors. 

At the dale of the Duke of York's grant to Berkley and Carteret, there 
were but few maps professing to give the position of places, or the physi- 
cal geography of the interior, and they all seem to be more or less copies 
of one by Nicholas Joannis Vischero, which is thought to have been pub- 
lished m 1654, One by Vanderdonck, published in 1656. which is un- 
questionably copied after Vischero's, may be seen in the New York Histor- 
cal Society Collections, Vol. 1st, New Series, and also, so far as it refers to 
New Jersey, in the first volume of our own Collections, and one or both 
doubtless formed the basis of the map to be found in the works of Mon- 
tanus and Ogilbie, published in 1671 ; and as Ogilbie is styled " Cosmog- 
rapher and Geographical Printer to his Majesty," the map that he selected 
to illustrate this part of the continent, may reasonably be considered the 
one most likely to be consulted by those concerned in the grant of New 
Jersey. 

On all these maps it will be seen that a stream corresponding in position 
with the Musconetcong, is made to join another corresponding with the 
Walkill, so that a water communication was exhibited between the Dela- 
ware and the Hudson by the Esopus river ; and also that, in about the lat- 
itude of 41 deg. 40 min. another stream makes a similar connection between 
the two rivers, the source of the Delaware being represented as being still 
farther north. The latitude in which the junction of this more northerly 
stream with the Delaware is located on the maps — its course — and the ex- 
istence of a place upon it designated as MeoecJihonh, in a position corre- 
sponding to one in later times called Moeghkan — all indicate that the geog- 
raphers of that day knew of no other branches of the Delaware than the 
Musconetcong in about latitude 40 deg. 30 min., and the Popaxtun, in 
about 41 deg. 40 min., according to their maps. Hence, when a point on the 
river was to be selected to limit the grant in the northwest, the junction of 
the most northern branch of the Delaware with the main stream was taken 
as one to be found readily ; and to identify it more particularly, the latitude 
was given in which it appeared to be. This would seem to be a common- 
sense explanation of the why and wherefore of the language of the grant — 
" to the northward as far as the northernmost branch of the said Bay or 
River of Delaware, which is forty-one and forty minutes of latitude." 



b NORTHERN BOINDART. 

Several years must have elapsed before the region through which the 
line was to run attracted the eye or excited the covetousness of land spec- 
ulators, or became sufficiently known to call for a delineation of the bound- 
ary. It is certain that no record exists of any negotiations on the subject 
while the province was held in common by Berkley and Carteret. After 
the division into East and West Jersey, and the arrival of Lawrie as Dep- 
uty Governor of the eastern province under Robert Barclay, some personal 
interviews took place between him and Governor Dongan, in pursuance of 
the directions of the Proprietors, who were ever anxious to pursue such a 
course toward their powerful neighbor as would prevent any just cause of 
complaint ;* and although we have not the time or facts definitely stated, 
it seems probable that at one of these interviews a line of division was 
authorized to be run, or some understanding arrived at respecting it ; as 
we find a Minute of the Council of New York, dated April 9th, 1684, the 
language of which would imply that some line had been agreed upon ; and 
in 1685 the Governor and Council of New Jersey, on granting some lands, 
made part of the bounds to begin "at Tappan Creek upon the Hudson's 
River at the line of Division agreed upon by the Governors of the two 
provinces.''t 

This line, designated on the map as No. 2, was confirmed by subse- 
quent negotiation ; and we find from a minute of the Council of New York, 
June 30th, and from the minutes of the East Jersey Proprietors of July 
8th and Sept. 9th, 1686, that an agreement had been entered into between 
the Governor of New York and the Governors of the two Jerseys, for 
running the lines between the three governments. " The most northerly 
branch," of the Delaware was first to be determined, and the 1st Septem- 
ber was the day on which the three surveyors, George Koith — subsequent- 
ly so prominent a character, through his discussions with the. Quakers — 
being appointed for East Jersey, Andrew Robinson for "West Jersey, and 
Philip Wells for New York— were to meet at the forU of Delaware to 
commence their labors; the determination of any two of them to be con- 
clusive as to the lines. The orders of the New York Council to their Sur- 
veyor were, " Carefully and with great exactness to run the Line between 
this province and that of East Jersey, beginning in the latitude of ybrfi/- 
one degrees and forty minutes upon Delaware River;" instructions which, 
taken in connection with the place appointed for the meeting, show as 



* Their language on this occasion to Lawrie was, "Be careful of avoiding all 
things that may interfere with their interest, or give just reason of complaint from 
them ; that he [Lawrie] be not apt to give any encouragement to people to trans- 
port themselves from thence, minding that we do not design to advance our inter- 
est by anything which may prove prejudicial to that province." — Grants and Con- 
cess., p 171. It is to be regretted that similar good intentions did not always char- 
acterize the acts of the authorities of New York in their intercourse with New 
Jersey. 

t Brief of New Jersey Claim, 1769. p. 8. 



KORTHERN BOCNDART. • 7 

clearly as if written with a sunbeam that the views of the authorities of 
New York then, did not differ from those entertained by the New Jersey 
Proprietors. 

For some cause not ascertained, what was so harmoniously inaugurated 
"was not brought to a definite conclusion. Messrs. Wells and Robinson, 
however, fixed upon a point on the Delaware in 41 deg. 40 min. N. L., and 
also according to the New York authorities made sundry observations by 
which they fixed the point of 41 deg. N. L. on the Hudson, two or three 
miles south of the true parallel, as subsequently determined.* The line 
which would have resulted from their observations is designated on the map 
as No. 4. 

The Proprietors of New Jersey, after repeated complaints to New York 
of the inconvenience resulting from the lines not being run, which were 
never responded to in a satisfactory manner, on the 5th May, 1095, nine 
years having elapsed, directed John Reid, their Surveyor General, to run 
the line agreed upon,* but their directions do not seem to have been car- 
ried out ; at least we hear of nothing tending to the settlement of the vexed 
question until 1718, twenty-three years later, when the Assemblies of both 
provinces passed acts providing for the running and settling of the line, but 
not until 1719 did the work commence.! 

Large districts of country by this time had become peopled by hardy 
tillers of the soil, and many disputes and controversies had arisen leading 
to personal contests, and contempt of all legal restraints by some, who, 
under the plea of not knowing to which province they belonged, acknowl- 
edged obedience to neither. Some held their lands under titles derived 
from the New York patentees, and were recognized as residents of that 
province, voting in the counties of Ulster and Orange. Some held grants 
from the New Jersey Proprietors, and frequently there were conflicting 
claims for the same tract ; so that the peace and prosperity of the country 
called loudly for a settlement of the difficulty. 

Robert Hunter was then Governor of both New York and New Jersey, 
and on him, therefore, devolved the duty of selecting the commissioners 
for both provinces. He named, for New Jersey, Dr. John Johnstone and 
George Willocks of Perth Amboy, and James Alexander, the Surveyor 
General of East Jersey — gentlemen every way qualified ; the last, espe- 
cially, from his mathematical and astronomical knowledge and high char- 
acter, was eminently fitted for the service. But twenty years later, those 
interested in the New York claims assumed that the appointment of men 
so largely interested in the soil of New Jersey was a "flagrant abuse," of 
which they had a right to complain, as well as of the appointment of Col. 
Isaac Hicks and Capt. Robert Walters, because they were in no way in 

* Brief, Ac, p. 32-34. The New Jersey Proprietors always denied that the po- 
sition on the Hudson was fixed — there was no documentary evidence of it. 
t Nevill's Laws, p. 77. 



KORTHERN BOUNDART. 

terested in the New York patents, and " though of unspotted reputations, 
yet by no means qualified for such employments ;" they were, however, 
associated with AUane Jarratt, Surveyor General of the Colony, of whose 
competency there was no question. With the knowledge we possess of 
the character of Gov. Hunter, and the encomiums pronounced upon his 
administration of the affairs of New York by contemporary authorities, it 
is not worth while to consider the objections made to his commissioners ; 
particularly as those objections were naturally engendered by the fact, that 
the commissioners decided the point claimed by East Jersey to be the true 
one. 

That point was, in truth, conceded in the instructions to the New York 
Commissioners, under the Great Seal of the Province, inasmuch as they 
were "carefully and diligently to inspect and survey all, or such, of the 
streams of water, that form the river Delaware, which they, the said com- 
missioners, or surveyor or surveyors, may esteem necessary to be inspect- 
ed or surveyed, in order to find out and determine which of the streams is 
the northernmost branch of the river Delaware ; and that then, when such 
branch is so discovered, that the surveyor or surveyors to the best of their 
knowledge and understanding, d iscover and find out that place of the 
said northernmost Iranch of Delaware Biver that lies in the latitude of 
forty -one degrees and forty minutes, which is the north partition point 
of NeiD YorTc and New Jersey.'''' No language could have expressed more 
explicitly the point they were to find, and what, when found, it was to be 
considered. 

Under these instructions the work was done, and the result embodied in 
a tripartite Indenture duly executed under the hands and seals of all the 
cominissioners and surveyors, bearing date July 25, 1719, by which they 
agreed that the stream, known then as the Fish-kill, which was nothing 
else than the main river above the Mackhackimack, should be considered 
the northernmost branch ; and that the point of 41 deg. 40 rain. N. L. was 
at a place called Cashiegtonk on the east side of that stream, and that the 
point so designated should be the north partition point, or division, between 
the provinces.* The acceptance by the New Jersey commissioners of what 
we should call part of the main stream, as the northernmost branch of the 
Delaware, was certainly a concession to New York, as it waived the right 
of proceeding to the Popaxtun the true northernmost branch; their action 
in this respect being consistent with the views subsequently expressed, (in 
1769) that "when a deed will admit of two constructions, the one definite 
and certain, the other vague and uncertain, that which is certain shall be 
taken and the other rejected." The latitude mentioned was a certainty, 
or could be reduced to a certainty, and should therefore be followed in pref- 
erence to the selection of a stream rendered ambiguous or uncertain :t 
the New Yorkers endeavoring then to establish the doctrine that the be- 

* Brief, Ac, p. 15. I Brief, kc, 23. 



NORTHERN BOUNDART. 9 

ginning of the branch was intended to be the boundary, and that the lati- 
tude was only descriptive ; although the fact could not be controverted 
that if descriptive, the latitude did not correspond with the beginning of 
any branch of the river. 

The line they agreed upon is marked on the map No. 3, and a random 
line to correspond with it was actually run from the Delaware to the Hud- 
son, (No. 1) and it was only through the remissness of the New York 
commissioners in failing to attend, that the station on the latter river was 
not definitely fixed at that time.* 

It might reasonably be supposed that such a conclusive document as the 
agreement just referred to, would have put an end to all existing differ- 
ences, but two months after its execution, Mr. Jarratt, the New York sur- 
veyor, on reporting the proceedings of the joint commission to the Presi- 
dent and Council of that province, (although his signature was affixed to 
the Indenture) stated that he had discovered some defects in the instru- 
ment used for taking the latitude. This gave an opportunity to the Coun- 
cil of New York to throw further obstacles in the way of a settlement, by 
adopting (September 24, 1719) a suggestion of the Committee to whom the 
matter had been referred, to the effect that " all further proceedings ought 
to be stayed until a correct and large instrument be procured for settling 
the said stations, "t 

It is not an unwarranted conjecture that the interposition of the New 
York surveyor to prevent the carrying out the tripartite Indenture was 
prompted by parties to whom grants had been given by the Duke of York 
or his governors ; the limits of which it was thought would be curtailed by 
the proposed line. J One of these, the "Wawayanda Patent," was bounded 
on the south by the line of division between the provinces, and the New 
Jersey Proprietors, very properly, construed the language to mean the 
true line when ascertained, and not any ideal line which the parties in in- 
terest may have assumed as the correct one. Another, the " great Mini- 
sink Patent," granted in 1704, had a phraseology so peculiar that it seem- 
ed to extend indefinitely into New Jerse}', but, at least, included 160,000 
acres south of the division line. The parties interested in these grants 
were, of course, averse to acknowledging any rights of the East Jersey 
Proprietors that might interfere with them, and, could they have succeed- 
ed, would have had no compunction in making the line run from the 41 
deg. on Hudson's River to the head of Delaware Bay.% 

* Smith's New York, I., p. 204 t Brief, p. 15. 

X Smith, the New York historian, says : " What had been transacted gave a gen- 
eral alarm to manj persons interested in several patents under New York, who 
before, imagined their rights extended to the southward of the random line." I., 
p. 204. It will be obserred that the position of the random line was considerabl/ 
farther north than the one subsequently ascertained, in consequence of the place 
of the 41st parallel not having been then determined. 

§ N. Y. Assembly Proceedings, Feb. 18, 1784. 



10 NORTHERN BODNDART, 

It is difiScult to realize that after arriving so near to a settlement of the 
controversey, so many years should have elapsed before the subject again 
became prominent, excepting as the delay from time to time provoked 
personal contentions and animosities. In 1738, the northern part of the 
then county of Hunterdon was set off for the county of Morris,* and with 
increasing and encroaching population came additional difficulties. Still, 
such was the apathy of the New York authorities, arising either from a 
misapprehension of the importance of the subject, or from conceiving it 
to be simply a question of priority of titles between individuals, which 
might be settled by courts of law ; and so much were the Proprietors of 
East Jersey engrossed with the growing troubles in the very heart of the 
province resulting from the Eiizabethtown claims, that year after year fled 
away until 1747-78, nearly thirty years after the almost-concluded settle- 
ment, when the Assembly of New Jersey could no longer refrain from 
adopting measures for running the line ex-parte, passing an act for the 
purpose, and submitting it for the sanction of the Crown ; first giving to 
New York an opportunity to come into the arrangement, which that prov- 
ince declined doing. The contest was therefore for the time transferred to 
London. The Assembly of New York, after hearing the parties opposed 
to the measure, on Oct. 29th, 1748, directed their speaker to instruct Mr. 
Charles, the agent of the province, to oppose the act ;t but Governor Clin- 
ton, writing to the Lords of Trade upon the subject, said, " As it does not 
appear to me that the interests of the Crown, or of this province in general,^ 
are any way concerned in the matter, but only the patentees of the lands 
along that line, I shall decline giving your Lordships any trouble in the 
affair, leaving to the particular persons concerned to take such steps as 
they shall think proper ;" and gave as one reason for the lack of co-opera- 
tion with the Governor of New Jerse}' in effecting a settlement, the fact 
of the expenditure of three thousand pounds previously to commissioners 
and surveyors, without any definite result. | 

It is asserted by Smith that this letter, which gave great umbrage to the 
popular party, was written by the Governor either directly for, or through 
the agency of, Mr. Alexander, in order to secure the influence of that gen- 
tleman, and Robert Hunter Morris then in England, in sustaining him 
with the ministry against his opponents in the province. 

Thus presented for their consideration, deprived of its true importance. 



* Nevill 1, p. 250. Hunterdon was created in 1713; previous to that time, all 
lands in the northern part of the province, not included in Bergen or Essex counties, 
were subject to the jurisdiction of Burlington. 

i Minutes N. Y. Assembly. Smith, N. Y., II., p, 129. 

% N. T. Col. Doc'ts., Vol. VI. p. 454. Smith's N. Y., II. p. 130. The latter au- 
thority, quoting Governor Clinton's letter, has £300 as the amount. I follow the 
copy in the New York Colonial Documents. The act itself, authorizing the expendi- 
ture, reads, " seven hundred and fifty ounces of plate."— Laws of New York, 1C92- 
1722. p. 171. 



NORTHERN BOCNDART. 11 

it is not surprising that it was not acted upon with dispatch ; still 
an unaccountable silence respecting the bill seems to have been ob- 
served for some years ; for although Mr. Paris, the accomplished agent 
of the East Jersey Proprietors, acknowledges on 17th January, 1749, the 
receipt of a box of papers from Mr. Alexander, relating to the boundary, 
the subject is not adverted to again by him for many months. In Septem- 
ber, 1750, the New York Assembly, in response to an application from 
their agent, resolved that the expense incurred by him in opposing the 
New Jersey bill, should be made a public charge, thus throwing upon the 
entire province that which was borne in New Jersey by the East Jersey 
Proprietors alone ; a result attributed to the influence, in part, of the De- 
lancey family, who were interested in the Minisink patent. The same in- 
fluence, it is said, led to instructions from the Speaker of the Assembly to 
the agent, urging a hearing before the Board of Trade, in preference to the 
appointment of a commissioner, unless the New Jersey Proprietors would 
recede from their claims and be satisfied with a line drawn from the 41st 
degree on the Hudson to the *' Head of Delaware Bay," which is at Reedy 
Island." In that case they would graciously consent to the appointment 
of a commission, — " to see the line run."* One cause for the neglect of a 
matter bearing so directly upon the prosperity of a large portion of both 
provinces, may perhaps be found in the fact that the riots and disturbances 
in New Jersey, which prevailed so extensively during the administration 
of Governor Belcher, were engrossing m.uch of the attention of both the 
provincial government and the Crown officers, and a suggestion had been 
made, originating apparently with Mr. Paris, that the junction of the two 
provinces in one government might restore peace ; this may have been con- 
sidered a panacea also for the boundary difficulties, and cause them to be 
put aside, at least until the suppression of the riots had been thoroughly 
efiected. 

At last, the parties seem to have aroused from their lethargy. On the 
2d December, 1752, Mr. Paris desired the Board of Trade to fix a day for 
the consideration of the bill, but not until 7th June, 1753, was his request 
acceded to. On the 4th of July following, the determination of the Board 
was probably arrived at, as the two agents were summoned to attend the 
sitting of that day ; and on 18th July they submitted to the King in Coun- 
cil an opinion adverse to the wishes of New Jersey, inasmuch as the bill 
was ex-parte in its character, and could not be considered authorized by 
any prior co-operation on the part of New York, as those transactions were 
never properly warranted by the Crown, nor could its interests be bound 
by proceedings so authorized ; losing sight entirely of their previous ac- 
tion in approving the acts of both provinces, directing the running of the 
line in 1719. They ignored Governor Clinton's views completely as to the 

* Smith, II., pp. 133-134. " Reedy Island," be it observed, lying in about 3ft 
deg. 5 min. N. 



12 NORTOERN BOUND ART. 

Crown's having no interest in the matter, for they say, " We think with 
respect to Quit Rents and Escheats, the situation of the two provinces 
makes a material alteration ; for though the province of New Jersey is not 
under regulations either of propriety or charter with respect to its govern- 
ment, yet it is a Propriety Province with respect to the grant and tenure 
of its Territory ; and consequently, as New York is not in that predicament, 
the determination of the Boundary in prejudice to that province will affect 
the Interest of the Crown, with respect to the tenure of such lands as are 
conceived in this question ; it being evident that whatever districts are 
supposed to be immediately held of the Crown in New York, by being 
supposed to be included in the limits of the province of New Jersey, will 
immediately pass to the Proprietors of that Province, and be held of them ; 
by which means the Crown will be deprived of its Escheats and the Quit 
Rents pass into other hands."* 

By disapproving thus of the previous action of Gov. Hunter and the two 
Legislatures in relation to the line of 1719, they materially hindered the 
fulfilment of the agreement entered into in relation to it, and strengthened 
the New York claimants in their opposition to its provisions. The formal 
repeal or disapproval of the act was not, however, promulgated for several 
months thereafter. On 4th August the New York agent notified Mr. Paris 
of his intention to move for it, and we find the latter, on the 18th August, 
complaining of the insufficiency of the materials in his possession to insure 
success in resisting the repeal which would come up for final action in Oc- 
tober or November following. It is somewhat singular that neither the 
act, nor the fact of its repeal, is mentioned in Nevill's Laws. 

In 1753, (May) the population of that part of the province having ma- 
terially increased, the county of Sussex was set off from Morris ; and the 
consequent closer proximity of courts and legal functionaries, of tax asses- 
sors and collectors, appears to have occasioned more frequent collisions 
with such of the inhabitants of the contested district as were disposed to 
resist the operation of New Jersey laws. Finding that there was no pros- 
pect of bringing New York to a final settlement of the line very soon, 
being as little likely to approve of a commission for the purpose as they 
had been of the act which had been passed by the New Jersey Assemblyi 
Mr. Alexander, in a letter to Mr. Paris of Dec. 21st, 1753, suggested the 
propriety of having the line run in 1719 designated as a temporary Line 
of Jurisdiction, until a final settlement could be effected — a similar propo- 
sition having been also presented to Governor Belcher on 20th November 
preceding — and in March, 1754, Robert Hunter Morris enclosed it to the 
Board of Trade, and urged their approval of the measure. 

Every step taken then, as was the case in subsequent Boundary dis- 
putes, calculated to hasten the desired result, seems to have originated with 
New Jersey, and to have been earnestly and considerately pressed upon 

* N. Y. Col. Doc'ts., Yol. YI. p. 775. 



NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 13 

the attention of New York. Thus this proposition for a temporary Line of 
Jurisdiction was at once communicated by Gov. Belcher to Lt. Gov. De- 
lancey of New York, and by him laid before his Council. The Committee 
to whom the matter was referred, recommended, very willingly, the estab- 
lishment of such a line, but instead of adopting that of 1719, they wished the 
Lieut. Governor to secure the designation of a line said, by them, to have been 
fixed in 1686,* but which the New Jersey commissioners, in 1769, 
asserted was now for the first time claimed by New York for the true 
line. Lieut. Gov. Delancey, however, conceded that the line on the Dela- 
ware might be carried up to the lower forks or junction of the Delaware 
with the Mackhackinack, instead of terminating at Minisink Island • his 
argument for not allowing it to extend to 41 deg. 40 min. being stated by 
himself in a letter to the Lord of Trade, thus : " As for these words,'' 
which is in forty-one degrees and forty minutes of latitude, " I do not take 
them to be part of the description of the Boundary ; they are only affirma- 
tive words of computation, or rather conjecture of the latitude wherein 
the northernmost branch on the Forks of Delaware lye. For instance, if 
a grant was made of all the lands from London Bridge to Greenwich, 
which is ten miles ; here the mistaken computation made of the distance, 
will not carry the grant beyond Greenwich. London Bridge being the ter- 
minus a quo, the place whence, and Greenwich the terminus ad quern, the 
place to which ; and these two make the extent of the grant, and are 
always understood to be exclusive. So of the western boundary of Jersey, 
the main Ocean at Cape May at the mouth of Delaware Bay, is the termi. 
nus a quo, and the northernmost branch of the said Bay or the Kiver of 
Delaware, is the terminus ad quem, which make the extent of the Jersey 
grant on the West."t 

The Lieut. Governor evidently lost sight of the fact that by ignoring the 
limitation of the given latitude, his "terminus ad quem" could only be 
found at the mouth of the Popaxtun branch, as no geographer can deny 
the "northernmost branch" of the Delaware must be either that or the 
MohawL 

The action of Lieut. Gov. Delancey's Council was sustained by the As. 
sembly, and during the year several spicy communications passed between 
the authorities of the two provinces respecting the merits of the difierent 
lines, in which considerable crimination and recrimination were indulged 
in; Governor Belcher being accused of "impertinence and indecency," 
and of " unwarrantable Hberties" in his manner of conducting the discus- 
sion ; and one may almost imagine he is reading a new version of the 
fable of the wolf and the lamb, when he is told of the "forbearance" of New 



* Minutes N. Y. Assembly, Oct. 29, 1754. See Line No. 6 on map. 
t N. Y. Col. Docts., Yol. VI., p. 839. 

3 



14 KORTHERN BOUNDARY. 

York, " notwithstanding the raany insults offered to it by the Province of 
New Jersey."* 

It appears from a formal report made to the New York Assembly Octo- 
ber 29th of the same year, (1754) that the New Jersey people, tired of 
awaiting the tardy movements of the New York Legislature, had pretty 
effectually sustained their rights by the exercise of might. After referring 
to several evils and indignities submitted to, the report states that "His 
Majesty's Justices of the Peace and other subordinate officers and minis- 
ters, in and for Orange County, have been repeatedly beaten, insulted, 
prevented in the execution of their respective offices, taken Prisoners and 
carried into parts of New Jersey remote from their habitations and the 
opportunity of being relieved, and have been thrown into jail, and held to 
excessive bail and prosecuted by indictment."t " Some of them," (the 
inhabitants of Orange County) says the same document, "have been 
obliged to desert their possessions, while a few, more resolute than the 
rest, are reduced to the necessity of converting their dwellings into places 
of defence, and go armed for fear of some sudden attack ," and they re- 
ferred particularly to the case of Thomas Dekay, Colonel of the Militia, 
and a Justice of the Peace of Orange County, whose plantations were 
claimed by the New Jersey Proprietors, as having his life threatened in 
his own house by armed men, and as being told by Mr. Alexander that he 
could only be assured of a quiet possession on his agreeing to hold his lands 
under New Jersey, become a Jerseyman, and fight (as he expressed it) for 
New Jersey against the New York people.J; Numerous affidavits relating to 
similar transactions — and particularly to the arrest of Jacobus Swartwout — 
a New York Justice, who had made himself very obnoxious — " on the 
Sabbath day at the church at Mackhackimack, at Minisink, being at least 
ten miles from the lower end of little Minisink island," are to be found in 
the New York records,! and on the other side we have accounts of out- 
rages committed by Colonel Dekay himself, in previous years,! of irrup- 
tions made by the people of New York into New Jersey, during which 
one or more houses were burnt, and of persons ousted of their possessions 
by lawless aggressors. These counter statements were of course trans- 
mitted to the authorities in England, and it is not surprising that, while 
subjected to the slow process of examination and adjudication by Commit- 
tees and Boards, the parties immediately interested should have despaired 
of any peaceful settlement; or that Governor Belcher, on 26th November, 



* See " Two Reports of a Committee of His Majesty's Council for the Province 
of New York relating to the Controverted line between the Province and New Jer- 
sey, March 18th and Dec. 17th, 1754." 

+ Minutes of Assembly, II., p. 394. 

X The line, as finally settled, passed to the northward of Col. Dekav's location. 

§ " Two Reports, &c." 
Boundary Papers, No. 133. 



KORTHERN BOUNDART. 

should have thought it necessary to urge the issuing of such orders from 
the King, as might prevent bloodshed, which these conflicts threatened to 
produce. Months, however, rolled away, with not a single efficient meas- 
ure being adopted, and we find James Alexander, on 2d July, 1755, ex- 
pressing his belief that no speedy settlement of the controversy could be 
expected, and feelingly suggesting to Mr. Paris that, as they were both 
" getting advanced in years," they should be instructing others in its his- 
tory, and preparing them to conduct it aright. His son "William, after- 
wards known as Lord Stirling, and Robert Hunter Morris, had already, in 
a great degree, taken his place, «and Mr. Paris was requested to look out a 
competent gentlemen to act as his substitute, should occasion require. 
Mr. Alexander died in the spring of 1756, and in him the province lost 
one of its most intelligent, patriotic, and useful citizens, to whose abilities 
and services justice has yet to be done in the preparation of a suitable Me- 
moir, for which there are abundant materials. 

During the period covering these events, the " Circumlocution Office," 
whose functionaries are ever striving " how not to do it," which Dickens 
has so graphically portrayed, seems to have been located on the premises 
of the Board of Trade, for notwithstanding all the appeals from New Jer- 
sey it was not until the 12th August, 1755, that any action took place, 
and then nothing but simple instructions issued from Whitehall, to the effect 
that New York should do, what the Proprietors of East Jersey were will- 
ing to do, provide for its proportion of the expenses of a Joint Commis- 
sion : an act passed by the New York Assembly in 1754-, submitting the 
matters in dispute to the King solely, being at the same time repealed. 
This act originated in what Smith terms " an obstinate attachment to the 
opinion that the stations from and to which the dividing line was to run 
were clear ;" or, which is the most probable conjecture, with a design " to 
protract the controversy."* 

The instructions from Whitehall were laid before the New York Assem- 
bly on 8th January following (175G,) and resulted in a barren act provid- 
ing for the sale of enough land in the Minisink and Waj'wayanda Patents 
to raise the amount ; a measure against which the patentees strongly and 
at great length remonstrated, in a memorial submitted to the Assembly on 
13th February, 1756 — which may be taken as a full exposition of the merits 
of their claimt — asserting the propriety of making the expense a public 
charge upon the whole province as contemplated in previous years. Their 
disinclination to meet the requirements of the act rendered it of course 
inoperative. Again, on the 1st September, did Governor Belcher complain 
to the authorities in England, and so manifest was the remissness of New 
York, that on the 24th November the Council referred to the Board of 

* Smith, II., p. 201. 

t Printed in Minutes of Assembly, II. p. 525. 



16 NORTHERN BOUNDART. 

Trade for action, the memorial of the East Jersey Proprietors, asking for 
the establishment of the line of 1719 as one of temporary jurisdiction. A 
hearing was appointed on the 21st December, and I may be permitted to 
introduce here an extract from a letter of William Alexander to Robert 
Hunter Morris, in my possession, which gives the results of the proceed- 
ings. Writing from London, Feb. 12, 1757, he says . 

" We expected to meet with the long practised opposition and eyasions 
on the part of New York, and therefore prepared for them by determining 
to make our offers so ample and fair as to put it out of their power to 
make any objections to the doing somethmg or other effectual. After 
reading over the petition, and proving the delivery of a copy of it to the 
President of the Council of New York, we told their Lordships that if 
they had any objections to the granting the prayer of the petition for a 
temporary line, and chose rather to have the matter determined by a Com- 
mission for running the final line ; and as the only objection that now re- 
mained to the issuing such Commission was, that the Province of New 
Yoik had not provided for their moiety of the expense, we would advance 
the money necessary for the whole expense of sueing out the Commission 
and carrying it into execution, provided their Lordships would advise that 
in the Commission it might be ordered that the Commissioners should 
award one-half of the expense to be paid by the Province of New York to 
the Proprietors of East Jersey. This we thought we might venture to 
offer, rather than leave them the least pretence for any further delay ; and 
it had the effect we wished ; for it convinced their Lordships that the Pro- 
prietors were honestly disposed to put an end to the contest." 

In this connection it may be remarked that not Only, as stated by Mr. 
Alexander, were the Proprietors honestly disposod to put an end to the 
contest, but that every exertion was constantly being made to bring it to ti 
close ; and, what is still more creditable, admitted behind the scenes as I 
have been, having in my hands the correspondence of all the prominent 
actors on the part of New Jersey, I can confidently assert that, not a 
measure was proposed nor a step taken which was not entirely honorable 
and manly ; as they aimed only at what was right, there has not come 
under my notice a remark or a suggestion intimating a desire on the part 
of the Proprietors to pursue any course not sanctioned by justice and 
equity. 

Although Mr. Charles, the New York agent, endeavored to get the Board 
*'not to do it" for a while longer, he was unsuccessful in postponing their 
report beyond the 27th January, 1757, when they recommended the es- 
tablishment of the line asked for by the East Jersey Proprietors, but gave 
New York six months time to provide for the expense of settling the final 
line, before the temporary one of jurisdiction should take effect. By this 
arrangement parties in actual possession were not to be disturbed by the 
claims of either province, and vacant lands north or south of the line 
were allowed to be granted by the Governor of New York or the East Jer- 



NORTnERN BOUNDABT. IT 

sey Proprietors, according to their location — the rents and profits to be 
subsequently accounted for to whichever party should have the tracts on a 
final settlement.* 

But the six months were allowed to pass, and were followed by five 
years more of supineness and indifference on the part of New York ; but 
the attention of a new Governor, Robert Monckton, was drawn to the sub- 
ject, and its importance being recognized, he brought it before the Assem- 
bly in December, 1762, and secured the passage of a Bill for submitting 
the controversy " to such a method of settlenlent as His Most Gracious 
Majesty shall by his royal commission think proper to appoint ;" the Pat- 
entees of Waywayanda and Minisink agreeing to pay whatever expenses 
might be incurred over £1,500. This was responded to by the Assembly 
of New Jersey at their next session the following June by the passage of 
an act intended to effect the same end, but owing to some objections which 
^0 not appear, it failed to receive the royal approbation, and another one 
•was passed February 23d, 1764,t— was approved — and the matter com- 
menced once more the circuitous and dilatory course of the " Circumlocu- 
tion OflQces" in England : remaining involved in their labyrinths until 
October, 1767, on the 7th of which month the long contemplated Commis- 
sion issued under the privy seal. 

It is not known whether the privilege was accorded to any of the parties 
in interest to designate the Commissioners ; there are some intimations, 
however, in the letters of Mr. Paris, that the East Jersey Proprietors re- 
monstrated in advance against the selection of certain persons. The fol- 
lowing gentlemen were named in the writ : 

Charles Steicart, John Temple, and Peter Randolph, Surveyors General 
of the Customs for the District of Quebec and of the Northern and South- 
ern Districts of America respectively. Andrew Elliot, Receiver General 
of the Quit Rents in the Province of New York. Chanibe'^s Bussell, Judge 
of the Court of Vice Admiralty for the Province of Massachusetts. Wil- 
liam Allen, Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania. Samuel Holland and William 
Be Brahm, Surveyors General of Lands for the Northern and Southern 
Districts of America. Andreio Oliver, Secretary of the Province of Mas- 
sachusetts. Charles Morris, Surveyor of Lands and one of the Councils 
of Nova Scotia. Payton Randolph, Attorney General and one of the 
Council of Virginia. Benjamin Franllin, of the Province of Pennsylva- 
nia, and Jared Ingersoll, of the Colony of Connecticut — any five of whom 
were clothed with power to examine witnesses and adjudicate the case, 
subject to the confirmation of His Majesty in Council — provided no appeal 
from their decision should be entered before them at a subsequent meet- 
ing, which they were authorized to hold, two months, at least, but not to 
exceed three months, after the promulgation of their decision. 

* Whitehead MSS., Vol. III., No. 113. Boundary Papers, No, 134. Smith'* 
N. Y., II., p. 249. 
t AUinson, 254, 2G3. 



18 NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 

Still there must be delay — and nearly two years more passed away be- 
fore the first meeting of the Commissioners, which was held the 18th of 
July, 1709. The place of meeting was the room used for the sittings of 
the Chamber of Commerce in New York in the Exchange, which was built 
on arches at the foot of Broad street, in a line with Water street, and it will 
add to our interest in the matters there discussed, to summon before our 
mental vision some of the men who might have been seen in and about 
that room while the investigation was pending — men who, from their dis- 
tinguished character, their difierent political and social aflSnities and sub- 
quent careers, (so little foreseen by any of them) are well worthy of no- 
tice. 

The Commissioners in attendance were six in number, Messrs. Stewart, 
Morris, EUiot, Holland, Oliver, and Ingersoll; all of note in the Colonies. 

Mr. Elliot, the Collector of the Customs and Keceiver of the Quit Rents 
in New York, was the third son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Lord Chief-Justic'e 
Clerk of Scotland, and uncle of the first Earl of Minto. He was highly 
esteemed for his business talents, intelligence, and worth. Major Holland 
had been for some years Surveyor General of the Northern Colonies, and at 
this time, or shortly after, was engaged in a survey of the Atlantic Coast, 
and continued so employed until the progress of the Revolution prevented 
the further prosecution of all undertakings of such a character. His maps, 
it is said, were used by Des Barres in the compilation of his celebrated 
charts of the American Coast. One in ray possession, published about 
1700, entitled, " The Provinces of New York and New Jersey ; with part 
of Pennsylvania, and Governments of Trois Revieres and Montreal," is re- 
markably correct for the time, and shows some of the lines referred to in 
the discussions between New Jersey and New York. 

Messrs. Ingersoll and Oliver had both been sufferers from a previous 
manifestation of royal confidence, having incurred the popular displeasure 
by accepting the thankless office of Stamp Distributor in their respective 
provinces. Mr. Oliver was born in Boston, graduated at Harvard in 
1724, and obtained celebrity as a Representative and Counsellor. At this 
time he was about sixty-two years of age. It was while filling the office of 
Secretary of the Province in 1765 that he was appointed Stamp Distributor 
for Massachusetts, but his place of business being assaulted and demolished 
by the mob, he was obliged to resign. Subsequently, under the supposi- 
tion that he was seeking to be restored, he was not only required to pub- 
lish a declaration that he would not perform the duties of the office, but 
also to appear publicly under the Liberty Tree, and in the presence of two 
thousand persons, solemnly swear that he would not directly or indirectly 
enforce the act. His coadjutor, Ingersoll, was considerably younger, being 
in his forty-seventh year. He was a graduate of Yale in 1742, and was in 
England as agent of Connecticut when he received the appointment under 
the Stamp Act. He arrived at Boston on hi.s way to Connecticut in 
August, 1765. Remaining there a short time, his approach becam. 



NOKTHERN BOUNDARY. 19 

known to the good people of his native province, and public sentiment ran 
so strongly against him that threats of even personal violence were in- 
dulged in. These, however, resulted only in his being tried and condemned 
to be burned, in effigy — an intimation which Mr. IngersoU very wisely 
heeded and resigned his office ; but, as in the case of Mr. Oliver, this did 
not satisfy the patriots of the day, who extorted from him in public an ex- 
plicit declaration of his intentions, together with shouts, thrice repeated, of 
"Liberty and Property." 

Associated with the Commissioners, as their Secretary, was the youthful 
John Jay, then in his twenty-fourth year, who had just been admitted to 
the Bar. He had already manifested tho.?e qualities which were destined ■ 
to secure for him in after years an enviable distinction among the distin- 
guished jurists and statesmen of the country — a distinction which in all 
the true elements of greatness was surpassed by few. He probably owed 
his appointment to the fact that his legal preceptor, Benjamin Kissam — 
whom he was wont to consider "one of the best men he ever knew," was 
associated with the New York agents as one of their counsel — a similar 
position with the New Jersey agents being filled by Samuel Jones, — the 
father of the late Chief-Justice Jones of New York, — in reference to whom 
Mr. Jay says, in one of his letters, " I wish there were many such men 
among us; they would reduce things to just principles." 

The claims of New York were presented by Henry Holland, who had 
held several important posts in the Province — Frederick Philipse, the head 
of one of the leading families, John Morin Scot, 'VViiliam Bayard, and 
John Cruger — the last three being the prominent participants in the pro- 
ceedings. All three kad been identified with the interests of the colonies 
in the events which had up to this time disturbed the relations between 
them and the mother country, and Cruger, as Mayor of the city, had taken 
into his possession the obnoxious stamp papers in 1765. Both he and 
Bayard had been active members of the first American Congress held in 
that year, and Cruger drew up the Declaration of Rights and Grievances 
put forth by that body. There must have been, therefore, a wide differ- 
ence between their political views and those of the Commissioners, Oliver 
and IngersoU, before whom they appeared. Cruger was then, and had 
been for ten years, a member of the New York Assembly, and held the 
office of Speaker from 17G9 to 1776 ; and Mr. Bayard was one of the most 
prominent citizens. Mr. Scot had been associated with "William Livingston 
in editing the "Independent Reflector," which in 1752 and 1753 did so 
much to expose and correct existing abuses of government and corruption 
of individuals ; and also aided in the preparation of other papers which 
exercised no inconsiderable influence in the formation of that public sen- 
timent, which subsequently proved so irresistible in overcoming the preju- 
dices for royalty. He was connected with every enterprise looking to the 
intellectual improvement of the people, and at this time was an eminent 
member of the New York Bar. It was from his pen that the long memo- 



20 NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 

rial proceeded, which was presented to the New York Assembly in 1756; 
and which pointed him out as one peculiarly qualified to sustain the inter- 
est of New York before the Commissioners. 

The claims of New Jersey were confided to John Stevens, James Parker, 
Walter Rutherfurd, Henry Cuyler, and William Donaldson, but the last 
two are thought not to have attended in person. The positions of the 
other three in our local annals are too well known to require special notice. 

The conducting of the case seems to have devolved for the most part 
upon Mr. Parker, whose letters, briefs, and memoranda which are in my 
possession, all evince a thorough acquaintance with the subject, and the 
most untiring devotion to the interests of the province. He was ably 
seconded by his coadjutors and Lord Stirling — distinguished for his math- 
ematical abilities — in all matters connected with the practical questions at 
issue, and having as legal advisers Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia, David 
Ogden of Newark, Eichard Stockton of Princeton, and Cortlandt Skinner 
of Perth Amboy, though they seem to have been irregular in their attend- 
ance ; Mr. Jones, before referred to, being the counsel most generally 
present. 

It must be conceded, that the names I have thus given present in them- 
selves conclusive evidence that, so far as numbers and ability, official sta- 
tion and social position, were requisites to ensure a just decision, those to 
whom were entrusted the adjustment of the controverted matters, possess- 
ed them all to a remarkable degree. But before proceeding to notice 
their proceedings, we may allow ourselves to anticipate the events of a few 
years, and dwell briefly upon the checkered fortunes and varied fields of 
action of those who were then in such close and constant intercourse. 

Of the sitting Commissioners, Oliver, although estimable in all his pri- 
vate relations, became exceedingly obnoxious to the patriots of Massachu- 
setts from his adherence to the royal cause, and sinking under the anxieties 
and disquietudes of the earlier years of the revolution, died in 1774. El- 
liot sided also with the royalists, and continued to hold various important 
trusts in New York so long as the British army retained possession ; then 
retired for a season to Perth Amboy, but eventually, as did also Holland, 
had to submit to expatriation and the confiscation of his property. Inger- 
soll appears to have been taught prudence by his experience as Stamp Dis- 
tributor, so that, on the suspension of his duties as Judge of Vice Admi- 
ralty, to which he was appointed soon after sitting upon the Boundary 
Commission and which had caused his removal to Philadelphia, he returned 
to Connecticut and so carefully guarded his conduct as to excite no ill feel- 
ing toward him, and died there in 1781. The other two, Stewart and 
Morris, residing respectively in Canada and Nova Scotia, were not affected 
by the disruption of the ties which had bound the other colonies to Eng- 
land. Their youthful Secretary, Jay, soon identified himself with the 
cause of America, and his upright and consistent course in every relation, 
public and private, so won the confidence and esteem of his countrymen* 



NORTHERN BOUNDART. 21 

^hat we find him filling many of the most exalted offices in their Rift and 
among them that of a negotiator, to settle-not the comparatively insignifi- 
cant disputes of adjoining land owners, but-the conflicting rights and priv- 
ileges of nations; his services as Minister at the Courts of St. Cloud and 
bt. James bemg eminently worthy of commendation. 

Of the New York agents, Messrs. Bayard, Phillipse and Cruger were among 
those who however disposed at first to act in opposition to the encroachments 
upon the liberties of the colonists, were eventually led to connect them- 
selves with the royalists, the first two seeking safety abroad, their property 
bemg confiscated to the State of New York, and Mr. Cruger retirin- to 
Kinderhook, where he died in 1792. Among those who represented°the 
interests of New Jersey as agents and counsel, there proved to be many 
ditterent shades of opinion as the progress of events obliged them to decide 
upon the rival claims of England and America to their loyalty Mr Ste- 
vens became an active participator in the proceedings of Committees and 
Councils in New Jersey, while Messrs. Parker and Rutherfurd observed a 
strict neutrality ; but, notwithstanding the close intimacy existing between 
them and the prominent Whigs of the day, so little were private friend- 
ships allowed to interfere with public duties, that not having taken the 
oaths of allegiance, they both suff-ered confinement for several months at 
Morristown in consequence of the treatment received in New York by two 
Jerseymen, (Messrs. Fell and Van Zandt) who had fallen into the hands of 
the royalists. A somewhat similar experience was that of Mr. Chew who 
was sent a prisoner to Virginia, in consequence of his refusal to take the 
required oaths. Mr. Skinner, as is well known, fled the province and be- 
came a Major General of the Royal Volunteers, although at first an earnest 
opponent of those measures of the Crown which led to hostilities; while on 
the other hand, Wm. Alexander, Lord Stirling, adopted the colonial cause 
and became a Major General of (he Continental forces. David Ogdcn, of 
whom Mr. Field has given an interesting sketch in his " Provincial Courts 
and Bar," abandoned the country and returned not until 1790, while Rich- 
ard Stockton boldly enrolled himself among those who pledged to each 
other " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor," in defence of 
American liberty. 

We pass now to a consideration of the proceedings of the Commission- 
ers. Care was taken by the New Jersey agents prior to the sitting of the 
^oard to have a traverse made of the Delaware River and Musconetcon<^ 
Branch, the first by Anthony Dennis and the other by Thomas Milled-e— 
experienced Surveyors both- the work of the former especially, in°the 
language of Lord Stiriing, giving "great satisfaction," going "greatly," 
he says, "to prove that the fork laid down in 41 deg. 40 min. in the Dutch 
Maps IS the upper fork, and not above sixteen miles to the north of the 
latitude ;" and a thorough examination of records, grants, and maps brought 
together a vast amount of evidence that seemed irresistibly conclusive, and 
from a remark in one of Mr. Chew's letters was thought to have produced 



22 NORTHERK BODNDARf. 

a due impression upon the agents of New York. *' I am glad," he wrote 
to Mr. Parker, June 15th, 17G9, "to hear your adversaries are bewildered. 
The Lord confound their politics, and enlighten and remove all partiality 
and undue influence from the hearts of your judges. Amen." 

The New York claimants were also on the alert, and had procured various 
surveys and maps relating to the points upon which they based their argu- 
ments. These surveys, with those made under the authority of the New 
Jersey agents, were properly verified, and by direction of the Commissioners 
— who at this stage of the proceedings were said to have been "very indulgent 
and exceeding desirous of promoting any measure that had the least tend- 
ency to do either party justice," — were incorporated in one general map, 
which was to be further corrected by new observations of the latitude on 
both rivers, by running the line of 1719 and a line " from a place on Hud- 
son's Eiver due west of the lower Yonker's Mills, to the lower end of Mini- 
.sink Island," being the line asserted by the Ncw York parties as having 
been agreed upon in 1G8G — the dwelling-houses, mills, iron works, &c., 
within the controverted limits to be particularly designated on the map. 
It is presumed that this map was constructed, but whether now in existence 
or not, has not been ascertained. From the details it must have contained, 
it would be a valuable acquisition, could it be found. 

To determine the latitude with precision, the agents of both provinces 
united in securing the services of Mr. David Rittenhouse of Philadelphia, 
who has been called the Newton of America. He was then in his thirty- 
seventh year, and had gained such celebrity for his mathematical and as- 
tronomical attainments as to be selected by the American Philosophical 
Society to observe the transit of Venus which, occurred on the 3d June of 
that year. " I am glad that Mr. Rittenhouse has undertaken this," wrote 
the Rev. William Smith to Mr. Parker, "for a man of equal abilities can 
scarce be got, and none of superior on this continent. * * * Let not 
his modesty prejudice, for it covers worth and abilities of a very superior 
kind." Mr. Rittenhouse joined the corps of surveyors about the middle of 
August, bringing with him from Philadelphia the Sextant and Time-piece 
belonging to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania in order to facilitate and ver- 
ify the various observations. Associated with him was also Captain John 
Montresor, a distinguished Engineer, who served under General Braddock, 
and was an ensign in his famous expedition. He had quitted the army, 
however, in 17G6.* During the revolution he made drawings of several of 
the positions occupied by the hostile armies around Boston and elsewhere, 
which were, a few years since, in the possession of the late Ithiel Town. 

Anthony Dennis and James Clinton were appointed to run the line of 



* The Chamber of Commerce of New York protited by the presence of Messrs. 
Rittenhouse and Montresor to have the latitude of the Battery ascertained, they 
reported to the Chamber on 7th November that they made it 40 deg. 42 miu. S sec. 
North.— J/>'. Mnfs History of the Chamber of .Commerce, p. 54. 



NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 23 

1680, but on commencing the work on loth August, they were encounter- 
ed by a large body of men with clubs, and obliged to relinquish the under- 
taking ; but the New Jersey agents having applied for, and obtained from 
Governor Franklin, a proclamation warning all persons against molesting 
them, they resumed their labors on the 21st, and their field-notes for about 
twenty miles, or more than two-fifths of the distance across, are in my 
possession, giving the names of the parties then residing in that region, and 
other interesting facts. 

It was remarked that, although the New York agents had earnestly re- 
quested that this line might be run, yet, when it was undertaken, they 
threw various obstacles in the way, as it was found on examination that no ' 
occupancy under New York titles could be found within a mile and a half 
of the line — a fact which they had no desire to establish. There were 
several collateral discussions had, as to the mode of calculating the latitude 
— the number of miles in a degree — the possibility of the branch of the 
Delaware at Easton, or the Lehigh, being the branch intended in the grant 
— and other points, which it would unnecessarily prolong this paper to 
refer to more particularly. 

The Commissioners continued in session while the surveys were being 
made, for the purpose of examining documents and receiving oral testimo- 
ny ; and Messrs. Rutherfurd and Stevens being absent, employed in col- 
lecting evidence, the whole weight of the examination on the part of New 
Jersey rested upon Mr. Parker, assisted by Mr. Jones ; and in a letter to 
Messrs. Ogden, Stockton, and Skinner, the other counsel, Mr. Parker, 
under date of Sept. 3d, expresses his anxiety and apprehensions as to the 
result unless they give their personal attendance, as was expected. He 
says: "The business of this week will chiefly be to examine witnesses on 
both sides of the question, the minuting of which and the drawing the in- 
terrogatories on our side the question, and the cross interrogatories for the 
witnesses produced on the other side, will be so considerable a work that 
it is impossible for him [Mr. Jones] with my assistance to execute it, and 
what the consequence of a defect in so material a point will be I leave you 
to determine. They intend to go into evidence of an extraordinary nature, 
and such as requires the assistance of Council to oppose." 

All the testimony having been received, Messrs. Stevens, Parker, and 
Rutherfurd, on the 28th September, submitted their Brief of the claim on 
the part of New Jersey — a document which reviews in a masterly manner 
every pretension advanced by the agents of New York, in refutation of the 
line agreed upon in 1719 ; every point being taken up and discussed fully, 
with reference to the various patents, grants, and surveys, making, as 
printed, forty-four folio pages. The copy in my possession is the only one 
I have ever seen, and I know of no other ; and after a careful examination 
of its arguments and verification of not a few of its statements by a refer- 
ence to the original authorities, I cannot conceive how the Commissioners 
could have arrived at the following decision — just two years after their ap- 



34 NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 

pointmcnt. It seems to be based upon no principle save that of accom- 
modation to the claims of New York. I read from a contemporaneous cer- 
tified copy, which appears to be in the hand-writing of Mr. Jay. The doc- 
ument has never, to my knowledge, been in print. 

" AT A MEETING of the Commissioners appointed by his most Gra- 
cious Majesty's Commission to Settle the Boundary Line between the Colo- 
nies of New York and New Jersey held at the Long Room Called the 
Chamber of Commerce in the City of New Y'ork, the 7th day of October, 
17C9, 

PRESENT. 

Charles Stewart, Esq., President, 

Andrew Elliot, Esq. 

Samuel Holland, Esq. 

Andrew Oliver, Esq. . 

Charles Morris, Esq. 

Jared Ingersoll, Esq. 

" The Agents on the part of both Colonies, having offered to the Court 
all that they thought necessary or proper in Support of their respective - 
•Claims, and the Court having Considered the Same, Do Find 

" That King Charles the Second by his Letters patent bearing date the 
twelfth day of March, ICGi, did Grant and Convey to his Brother the Duke 
of York, All that Tract of Country and Territory now Called the Colonies 
of New York and New Jersey ; and that the said Duke of York afterwards 
by his Deed of Lease and Release bearing Date the 23d and 24:th Days of 
June, 1665, did Grant and Convey to Lord Berkley of Stratton and Sir 
George Carteret, that part of the Atoresaid Tract of Land Called New Jer- 
sey. The Northern Bounds of which in said Deed are described to be " to 
the northward as far as the Northernmost Branch of the said Bay or River 
of Delaware which is in 41 deg. 40 min. of Latitude and Crosseth thence 
in a Straight Line to Hudson's River in 41 deg. of Latitude." 

"We further find among the many Exhibits a Certain Map compiled by 
Nicholas John Vischer, and published not long before the aforesaid Grant 
from the Duke of York, which we have reason to believe was Esteemed 
the most Correct Map of that Country at the Time of the said Grant, on 
which Map is Laid down a Fork or Branching of the River then Called 
Zuydt River or South River now Delaware River in the Latitude of 41 
deg. and 40 min., which Branch we Cannot doubt was the Branch in the 
Deed from the Duke of York called the Northernmost Branch of ihe said 
River, and which in the Deed is said to lye in the Latitude of 41 deg. and 
40 min. And from a CarefuU Comparison of the several Parts and Places 
Laid down on the said Map, some of which, more Especially towards the 
Sea Coast and on Hudson's River We have Reason to believe were at that 
iime well Known. The Distance of the said Branch from the Sea Shore 



ITOBTHEETf BOUyDART. 25 

on the South,* and the Relative situation of the same with regard to other 
places and the Lines of Latitude as they appear to be laid down on the said 
Map at that and other places in the Inland Country : We are of opinion 
that the said Branch so laid down on the said Map is the Fork or Branch 
formed by the Junction of the Stream or Water Called the Mahackamack 
with the River Called Delaware or Flshkill and that the same is the Branch 
Intended and referred to in the before mentioned Deed from the Duke of 
York, as the Northern Station at the River Delaware, which Fork or 
Branch We find by an observation taken by the Surveyors appointed by 
the Court, to be in the Latitude of 41 deg. 21 min. and 37 seconds. 

" We are further of opinion that the Northern Station at Hudson's River 
being by the Words of the said Deed from the Duke of York, Expressly 
Limited to the Latitude of 41 deg. should be fixed in that Latitude, which 
Latitude we have caused to be taken in the best manner by the Surveyors 
appointed by the Court, and which falls at a Rock on the West Side of 
Hudson's River marked by the said surveyors, being 79 Chains and 27 
Links to the Southward on a Meridian from Sneydon's House, formerly 
Corbet's. 

"It is Thekefobe the final Determination of the Court That the Bounda- 
ry or Partition Line between the said Colonies of New York and New Jer- 



* This argnment, tipon the eoandness of which the decision rest", making the 
extension of New Jersey, north, to depend opon what wa« very gratoitooslj taken 
to be the views of the parties as to the position of Cape May and .Sandy Uook, is 
thus adverted to in the Brief of the New Jersey Agents. I hare not thought is 
necessary to nrge anything farther to show its fallacy : 

" The Agents for Xew Jersey do also observe, that the Duke of York, who, from 
his office of Lord High Admiral, most be enpposad to bare been well acqoainted 
with every branch of mathematics, and was himself a good seaman, coald not have 
been ignorant of latitudes. To say that he meant or intended any particular place, 
or had any particular ntmiber of miles in view for a degre« of latitude, is absurd ; 
because nothing is offered to support it, and the Deeds shown prove the Contrary; 
had the Duke intended any eert«n place on Hudson's River, he would undoubtedly 
have mentioned it ; but giving a certain latitude for the begmning of the Line on 
that River, it cannot be presumed but that he meant the beginning choald be 
wherever that latitude in truth was. To suppose, that the place of that latitude 
was by him determined from the then known latitude of the Cxget, or Sandy 
Hook, or any other place, is supposing what not one of the deeds, or aaj n&mal 
eoagtmedoa of them or other evidence, will warrant. ITo plaoe is mentioned ex- 
cept Ca^e May, whidi was to be the soothem boundary, not described by any lat- 
itade, but as a Cape ; it follows, therefore, that, if the tttaatioa of the Cape had 
beenaD^ree fortberSortii or Sooth, than it aetoally is; yet it eoold not affect 
the stations we contend for, as they are fixed independent of it or any other pbee 
vhatsoerer. To suppose that the Dnke knew the latitude of the Cape, and that 
he from dtenee detoanaed tte btitndf on the Btren, eon^vting mxij adles of 
gOehaiBS inamiieto ad^;ree; ian^posmg mote abemrdly. * * * The Duke 
wdl knew, that llmtting fajs grant by Degrees of Latitude, wu more determinate 
than any other Booodaiy he eoold give ; and as the Latitudes are gtven, we cannot 
think that ai^ otiher iiMiiiiiiitioii can ever be admttted."— ^ri«/, p. -^l. 



26 NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 

sey be a direct and straight Line from the said Fork at the Mouth of the 
Eivcr Mahackimack in the Latitude of forty-one Degrees twenty-one Min- 
utes and thirty-seven Seconds to Hudson's River at the said Rock in the 
Latitude of forty-one degrees as above described. 

"(Signed) Cha. Stewart, 
Andrew Elliot, 
Andrew Oliver, 
Jared Ingersoll." 

" Samuel Holland and Charles Morris, Esquires, two of the of the mem- 
bers of the Court not Concurring in a part of the foregoing determination, 
viz., That part respecting the Station at Hudson's River, desired to have 
their Reasons for such their Dissent entered on the Minutes of our Pro- 
ceedings, which was allowed and they are as follows : 

*' THE Northern Boundary of the province of New Jersey is the matter 
Submitted to our Consideration and to Ascertain the Extremities of the 
Partition Line upon Hudson's and Delaware Rivers. 

"In doing this We are to proceed upon Principles of Justice and Equity, 
having respect to the Proofs. This we apprehend to be [the] Language and 
Intent of [our] Commission and It is Necessary It should be so because 
the Country was but little known at the Time The Grants to the Duke of 
York were made, and We must of necessity have recourse to the ancient 
Maps which were in being at Time of making these Grants. 

" It is difficult to ascertain with precision what Lands passed to the Duke 
of York by his Grant, Either from the Express Words of the Grant or by 
any Maps of the Country that appear to us to have been then extant. 
Nor is it probable That the Duke or his Grantees were better Informed 
when He Conveyed New Jersey to Berkley and Carteret ; the best Lights 
Wc have on this Matter are the Maps of Vischer. 

" The Words relative to the Latitude in the Grants to Berkley and Car- 
teret are words of Description concerning the Northernmost Branch of 
Delaware, and We do not find upon Inquiry any Branch in the Latitude 
anentioned. A Branch nevertheless Seems to be Intended. The Branch 
nigh to that Latitude is Mahackamack and which, from a View of this An- 
cient Map we are Induced to believe was the North Partition point intend- 
<!d by the Parties, and think in Justice and Equity ought to be so deter- 
mined, because a Line from Hudson's River to the Branch at Easton, 
claimed on the part of New York, or to that of the Poughpaxtonk and 
Mohawk Branches claimed by New Jersey, would Involve many of his 
Majesty's subjects in Absolute Ruin who hold respectively under Each Gov- 
ernment, 

"It is therefore upon this principle The Point on Hudson's River we ap- 
prehend ought also to be fixed, for as It appears by Vischer's Map that 
the Latitude of forty-one on Hudson's River, which Map We apprehend 






NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 2^ 

was the Guide and direction to the Duke in forming his Grants to Berkley 
and Carteret. This Map, ascertains the Latitude of forty-one on the unner 
part of the Manhattan's Island. 

.u 7I^^r ^^'^^^''y therefore was vacant we should not Hesitate in Declarin<- 
that the Latitude of forty-one as laid down in the ancient Maps would in 
Equity be the Station on Hudson's River, and more Especially because We 
have had abundant Experience in our own Departments to Observe that 
the Ancient Geographers find their Latitudes in these parts of the Conti 
nent Several Miles more Southerly than are found to be by more modern 
Observations. In Tenderness therefore to the New Jersey Settlers We are 
Inclined to a more Northern Station and in settling the place where Con 
sider that before the Contested Territory was planted, a Place due' West 
of Frederick Phillips Mills gained the Reputation as the Station Point upon 
Hudson's River, and a Line from this Station which appears to be anciently 
fixed by the Governments concerned will be the Least detrimental to the 
Settlers, and one more Northerly will Comprehend many Farms in a pop- 
ulous Neighborhood held under New York by ancient Patents. We Can- 
not help being of Opinion That a Line thence to the Mahackamack Branch 
will be the most Just and Equitable of any We can fix upon agreeable to 
the design of the royal Commission which We imagine will be most Con- 
formable to his Majesty's Gracious Intentions to his Subjects in both Prov- 
inces." 

"(Signed) Samuel Holland, 
Charles Morris." 
" The aforewritten is a true Copy of the Oiiginal Enters. Ex" by 

(Signed) John Jay, Clk." 

This remarkable decree which fixed the point in controversey, neither at 
the northernmost branch of the Delaware nor in the latitude of 41 deg. 40 
min., but at the junction of the Mackhackimack with the Delaware in lati- 
tude 41 deg. 21 min. 37 sec, did not satisfy either party. The agents of 
New York objected to both stations as being too far north, and the New 
Jersey Proprietors to the station on the Delaware, as too far south, throw- 
ing between 150,000 and 200,000 acres into New York, four-fifths of which, 
at least, were actually held under grants from them ;— and the 8th Decem- 
ber was fixed upon by the Commissioners on which to re-assemble at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, to receive the appeals and take the necessary steps for 
transmitting their proceedings to his Majesty in Council. In the mean- 
while, Mr. William Bayard, one of the most active of the New York agents, 
and who was largely interested in the grants to be effected by the decision,' 
proceeded to London with a view, as was thought at the time, to antici- 
pate the arrival of the papers with the personal information and influence 
which he might bring to bear upon the Council ;— and the East Jersey 
Proprietors endeavored not only to fortify themselves against Bayard's rep- 
resentations in England, but also applied to the Provincial legislature to take 



28 NORTHERN BOUNDARr. 

their cause under their protection, and grant such pecuniary aid as would 
enable them to prosecute their appeal efficiently and effectually. This ap- 
plication resulted in the passage of an act, Dec. 6th, 1769,* authorizing the 
Treasurers to advance to the agents of the Proprietors Three thousand 
pounds ; but the agents were obliged to give bonds to return the amount so 
advanced whenever demanded ; — in other words £3,000 were loaned by the 
Province to the Proprietors — not given. 

On the 8th December, only Messrs. Oliver and Morris reached Hartford^ 
but Messrs. Elliot and Ingersoll arrived the next day. Five, however, were 
required to constitute a quorum, and could not formally proceed to busi- 
ness unless at the request of both parties, but as Mr. Scot of New York 
objected, the Commissioners adjourned to the 4th July, 1770, transmitting 
to Lord Hillsborough, to be laid before his Majesty, a statement of their 
reasons for so doing, and applying for further instructions, t 

The King in Council on 27th April, 1770, directed that full effect should 
be given to any proceedings of the Commissioners who might attend on 
the 4th July, without requiring the presence of five — but further action 
was rendered unnecessary by a mutual agreement between the agents of 
of the two provinces, whereby the line designated by the Commission was 
adopted as the line of jurisdiction between them, and the rights of the 
patentees, possessors, and claimants on either side of the line were confirmed 
to them irrespective of their derivation from New York or the Proprietors 
of East Jersey: it being conceived "just and equitable" that they who 
had not only purchased their lands for a valuable consideration , but, as was 
the case with many of them, had laid out all their substance in their improve- 
ment, should be secured in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor and 
industry. 

The precise date of this agrement I have not ascertained, but from 21st 
of May to 20th June Mr. Parker was engaged in travelling through the 
controverted region, (part of the time having Mr. Stevens associated with 
him) taking the names of the purchasers of the tracts, examining deeds, 
and making other arrangements for the final running of the line, which 
was done by a joint corps of surveyors — Messrs. Wickham and Dennis 
serving on the part of the East Jersey Proprietors, under the supervision, 
it is presumed, of Walter Rutherfurd. On the 12th July, that gentleman 
had the satisfaction of writing to Mr. Parker, " At last this line-running 
is concluded. * * * The Patentees in general seem pleased with the 
business, and I hope we shall get an end of it." 



* Allinson's Laws, p. S35. 

+ Mr. Steveus and Mr. Kutherfurd went to Hartford on the part of New Jersey, 
and the former gentleman communicating the result to Mr. Parker, under date of 
18th December, wrote : " Mr. Rutherfurd and I returned from Hartford Saturday 
night last at 7 o'clock, after a cold fatiguing jmirney on horseback, (to save money to 
the Proprietors,) but Mr. Scot, Ac, went in a coach and four." 



NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 29 

'" An act was passed by the General Assembly of New York confirming 
this arrangement on 16th February, 1771, and one by the Legislature of 
New Jersey September 26th, 1772 : both acts receiving the royal approval 
on the 1st September, 1773, and thus was the line decreed by the Commis- 
sioners in 1769— one hundred and eight years after the grant was received 
from the Duke of York — declared to be "forever" thereafter "the Boun- 
dary and Line of Partition between this Colony and the Colony of New 
York." The New Jersey act* is valuable as a historical document, from 
its giving the name of the patentees affected by the settlement, with the 
dates of issue and number of acres in their several grants. 



A brief reference to the Division line between East and West Jersey 
must be made, before bringing this paper to a close. 

The establishment of the north partition point at the mouth of the Mack- 
hackimack, instead of in the latitude of 41 deg. 40 niin. north, necessarily 
occasioned some change in the relations between the Proprietors of East 
Jersey and those of West Jersey, by disturbing the understanding which 
had existed for more than ninety years as to the course of the line dividing 
the two provinces. 

The Quintipartite Indenture by which, on the 1st July, 1676, a division 
of New Jersey — which previously had been held in common — was made 
between Sir George Carteret and the assignees of Edward Byllinge, pre- 
scribed the following as the boundaries of that portion which thereafter 
was to be known as "East New Jersey": extending from "Little Egg 
Harbour to the forty-first degree of latitude on Hudson's River, and cross- 
ing over from thence in a straight line extending from that part of Hud- 
son's River aforesaid to the northernmost BrancJi, or imrt of the lefore- 
mentioned river, called Delatoare liioer, and to the most northerly point 
or Boundaru of the said tract of land and premises, so granted by his 
said royal highness James, Duke of York, unto the said Lord Berkley and 
Sir George Carteret, now by the consent and agreement of the said parties 
to these presents, called and agreed to be called the North Partition 
Point, and from thence, that is to say, from the said north partition pointy 
extending southward by a straight and direct line, drawn from the north 
partition [point] southward, through the said tract of land, unto the most 
southardly point of the east side of Little Egg Harbour aforesaid; which 
.said most southardly point of the east side of Little Egg Harbour is now 
by the consent and agreement of the said parties to these presents, called 
and agreed to be from henceforth called the south partition point, &c." 

It was evidently the intention of the contracting parties to divide the 
province equally, and it was in pursuance of that intention that the line 
of George Keith (No. 11 on the map) was commenced in 1687, and run as 

* AUinsOD, p. 36S. 



so NORTHERN BOUND ART. 

far as tbe south branch of the Raritan. Had it been extended to the Del- 
aware West Jersey would have contained 53,890 acres less than East Jer- 
sey or 26,945 acres less than half the State, and an agreement was en- 
tered into in 1G88, having in view the correction of any difference that 
mi"-ht exist. But inasmuch as the East Jersey Proprietors claimed from 
the Duke of York to the latitude of 41 deg. 40 min, on the Delaware, they 
•were obliged, acting consistently, to recognize that as the " north partition 
point" agreed upon in the Quintipartite deed of 1676 ; and we consequent- 
ly find that the joint commission of 1719 did establish that as the point 
from which the line of division was to have run to Little Egg Harbor, 
(No. 10 on the map) but it was not until September and October, 1743, 
that it was actually run by John Lawrence ; and the East Jersey Proprie- 
tors have continued to regard the understanding then arrived at as bind- 
ing, although it gives to West Jersey an excess of over 1,000,000 of acres. 
The settlement of the boundary question with New York, and the conse- 
quent change in the northernmost point from the stated latitude to the 
mouth of the ifackhackimack, throwing the " north partition point" far- 
ther to the eastward, the West Jersey Proprietors by appeals to the Legis- 
lature, took some steps in 1775 toward asserting their right to the lands 
lying west of a line drawn from the Mackhackimack to Egg Harbor, (No. 
9 on the map) which would have given them more than 1,850,000 acres 
above the proportion of the Proprietors of East Jersey, and again after 
the Revolution, in 1782, the attempt was renewed, but without success. 
The internal differences, however, growing out of the controversey with 
New York, do not legitimately come within the scope of this paper ; the 
principal points will be found stated in Gordon's History of New Jersey,* 
with references to the authorities that may be consulted for further infor- 
mation, 

pp. 7i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 206 134 P 4 



V. >•> 



\ 



